


Can't put your arms around a memory

by fleurlb



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22347589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurlb/pseuds/fleurlb
Summary: Brief scene of a "stunted relationship between people who have no idea how to do intimacy" with a little Cara backstory and a bit of astonishing Force feat.
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Can't put your arms around a memory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lucymonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/gifts).



> Slightly AU - Cara joins the Mandalorian and the Child in their search.

“So, Cara Dune of Alderaan,” says the Mandalorian. They're in the back of the ship, on a comfortable autopilot to a planet in the Outer Rim where Cara knows a safe place where they can get supplies and intel. 

“That's me,” she says with a sigh. They're sitting across from each other at the same table where The Child nearly choked her. The memory is fresh in her mind, even as the Child sleeps in a basket at their feet. 

“That explains a lot.” 

“What's that supposed to mean?” Her voice has more heat in it than she feels. Old habit, she guesses. She's never liked when people make assumptions about her. 

“I don't mean anything by it, but your willingness to go after Imps, even against ridiculous odds. Not the kind of thing a.... _typical_... fighter would choose.”

“I guess not,” she says. She stretches out her legs, careful not to knock the Child's basket. 

“How did you survive?” 

She looks down and smiles, small and rueful. “It was stupid – just luck and timing. The night before, I'd had a huge fight with my parents. They were quite....traditional. Didn't understand me at all. Didn't understand why I was training, why I was ready to join the Rebellion. They wanted me to be more like my sisters. So I snuck out in the middle of the night, went to the nearest cantina, and found a smuggler who was willing to take me Yavin. He wanted to leave the next day – I insisted on going that night.”

The Mandalorian nods once. “And then you had to join the Rebellion.”

Her laugh is short and mirthless. “I was always going to join the Rebellion.”

She's startled by the Child climbing up onto the table. He looks at her and stretches out his hand. She tenses, not sure what he's going to do. But he keeps coming closer until he lightly touches her Rebel tattoo. She feels a surge of warmth and nearly stops him. She's overcome by an irrational fear that he's somehow going to heal her skin and erase the tattoo. 

But something else happens, something stranger and deeper. She feels all of her memories and feelings surge out to the Child and come back to her, somehow clearer and brighter. The argument is still in her head, but this time, she can see her parents' concern and their love instead of their disapproval. Her anger at the Empire is still there, but it's somehow sharper and more honed, a better weapon than the inchoate rage she was left with after Alderaan. 

The Child takes his hand back and nods once, then settles into her lap. She puts a protective hand over him. She notices a shiny spot in dull grey table and gives it a hard rub until it shines. She turns her head and looks at her reflection. The tattoo is still there, glossy and nearly glowing.

“What just happened?” asks the Mandalorian.

“I honestly couldn't tell you,” she says, not trusting her voice to be able to say any more. They sit in silence until the Child falls asleep again. 

“You know, Mando,” she finally says. “This Child, his powers. They'd be so dangerous in the wrong hands. And the Empire, it might be down, but it's not out. We need to train him and then....” 

She can't bring herself to say “use him”, but that's what she means. And she hates herself both for thinking it and for not being able to say it. 

“No,” replies the Mandalorian. “We have to try to find his people. That is the Way.”

“That is the Way and you have spoken,” says Cara, remembering Kuiil. She looks up and can see that Mando is remembering him too. The silence stretches easily between them, and Cara can see the new course that her life is about to take.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the lovely Dear Author letter - I took a little from column A and a little from column B. Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
